Definition: Estimated percentage of children ages 0-17 with and without special health care needs whose families felt like partners in shared decision-making with providers in the previous 12 months, among those with a health care visit who needed decisions to be made regarding their care (e.g., in 2024, among California children with special health care needs (CSHCN) who needed decisions to be made regarding their health care in the previous year, 79.1% had families who were partners in shared decision-making with providers).
Data Source: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Survey of Children's Health (Nov. 2025).
Footnote: In these estimates, shared decision-making is measured by assessing whether a child's family usually or always felt that providers (i) discussed a range of options to consider for treatment, (ii) made it easy to raise concerns or disagree with treatment recommendations, and (iii) worked together with the family to make treatment choices. Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) have or are at increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition and require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children generally. These estimates are based on a survey of the population and are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. For more information, see https://www.childhealthdata.org/learn-about-the-nsch/NSCH.
